Healthy Goals

The Healthy Goals: Better Lives Programme

During their mid to late teens, young people are faced with a number of challenges. Exams, social expectations, further education, vocational training and / or finding their first job can all take their toll on young people at a time when they are under immense pressure to achieve – unfortunately this means that their health is not of the upmost concern.

Our Healthy Goals: Better Lives programme has been developed to address this issue. Designed specifically for 15 – 18 year olds by senior public health and behaviour change practitioners, Healthy Goals can be integrated into your club’s existing social inclusion programme and consists of eight flexible modules that can be delivered over four, six or eight weeks.

How It Works

The programme trains club community coaches to deliver interactive sessions offering a balanced approach to healthier lifestyles, giving young people a greater

understanding of the issues at stake and empowering them to make informed decisions. Key themes considered during the course include:

Physical activity and fitness

Healthier diet, cooking and shopping for food

Alcohol and sensible drinking

Tobacco and cannabis use

Illegal recreational drugs and new psychoactive substances

In addition to healthy lifestyle education, young people will also benefit from an introduction to ‘goal setting’ as a key tool for helping to make lifestyle choices. The theme of setting short-term and long-term goals runs through the programme, offering participants a framework for making changes to lifestyle, and structuring future life choices. Staff receive specific training on goal setting from behaviour change practitioners, and a set of practical tools to help with delivery.

Everton In The Community Pilot

A hugely successful trial with Everton in the Community’s (EITC) own National Citizenship Service (NCS) programme during 2016 has seen over 160 young people complete the course – more than double the intended number. As NCS providers continue to scale up, EITC now intends to deliver Healthy Goals to an even greater number of young people in 2017.

Results From 2016

69% of young people increased the amount of physical activity they do per week

83% improved their diet by eating more fruit and vegetables and by reducing consumption of unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks

40% felt they could manage their health more effectively and make better choices after the course

Joe Rowe, NCS Manager, Everton in the Community said:

“We had a huge range of young people from different backgrounds access Healthy Goals through our NCS programme in 2016. The best part of Healthy Goals is that it doesn’t just focus on one particular health theme, and we have seen significant improvement in health behaviours of a number of young people throughout the sessions.
In particular the alcohol sessions which have had a real impact on the young people, as they are now a lot more open when talking about some of the issues they face and some situations they have found themselves in relation to alcohol.”

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Funding And More Information

If you, one of your team, or even your local / existing commissioners would like to speak to us about how we can develop a successful, integrated Healthy Goals partnership, please fill in the enquiry form: